British cycling great Bradley Wiggins retires
36-year-old won the Tour de France classic in 2012 and bows out with eight Olympic medals, including five golds, and seven world titles
Bradley Wiggins announced his retirement from professional cycling on Wednesday, bringing the curtain down on a career that saw him become one of Britain’s greatest sportsmen.
The 36-year-old became Britain’s first Tour de France winner in 2012 and bows out with eight Olympic medals, including five golds, and seven world titles, across track and road cycling, to his name.
“I have been lucky enough to live a dream and fulfil my childhood aspiration of making a living and a career out of the sport I fell in love with at the age of 12,” he said in a statement on the Facebook page of his Wiggins team.
Wiggins, nicknamed “Wiggo”, is the only cyclist to have won world and Olympic gold medals on both track and road.
His other achievements include the world track hour record, set in June 2015, and wearing the leader’s jersey in each of the three Grand Tour. He also jointly holds the world record in the team pursuit.
“What will stick with me forever is the support and love from the public though thick and thin, all as a result of riding a pushbike for a living,” Wiggins added.
“2012 blew my mind and was a gas. Cycling has given me everything and I couldn’t have done it without the support of my wonderful wife Cath and our amazing kids.
Born in Ghent, Belgium to an Australian cyclist father, Gary, and a British mother, Linda, Wiggins was raised in Kilburn, northwest London and would become an icon of British sport.
His “mod” sideburns and irreverent public pronouncements made him a beloved figure and he was knighted by Britain’s Queen in 2013.
But the final months of his career were overshadowed by whispers about shady practices during his time with Team Sky, which coincided with the most successful period of his career.
It was revealed in September that he obtained therapeutic use exemptions for the banned substance triamcinolone shortly before the 2011 and 2012 Tours de France and the 2013 Giro d’Italia.
He has denied wrongdoing and there is no suggestion he has broken any rules, but UK Anti-Doping is investigating.